Coding transfer



Nov. 13, 1962 .1-1. cRoNQulsT I comm; TRANSFER Filed Sept. 18, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 MW W INVENTOR. Dav/1406f Cm/VQU/s r BY M A77'0PNEY Nov. 13, 1962 D. H. CRONQUIST CODING TRANSFER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 18, 1956 INVENTOR. DONAL 0 H. CRONQU/S 7- BY ATTOP/VEY Nov. 13, 1962 D. H. CRONQUIST CODING TRANSFER 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 18, 1956 IN V EN TOR. DO/VAAD bf 0mv u/sr BY M A77'0P/VEY United States Patent Ofifice 3,063,627 Patented Nov. 13, 1962 3,063,627 CODING TRANSFER Donald H. Cronquist, Santa Clara, Calif., assignor to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Fiied Sept. 18, 1956, Ser. No. 610,537

2 Claims. (El. 235--61.6)

The present invention relates to a disc which, when a plurality thereof are arranged together on a common transverse axis to form a drum, will serve as the central transfer element in a machine for effecting coding transfers, with particular application to the transfer of decimal data from the standard punched record card to binary form for use in machines operated by such a data form.

Aside from the present disclosure regarding the transfer disc, the other devices and mechanisms herein disclosed are only illustrative of one method and machine in which the transfer discs may be used, and such other devices and mechanisms are mainly shown in a diagrammatic manner.

There a e .6 1 many types .of transfer devices developed in the past, both mechanical and electrical. On the whole, they have been complicated and extensive in the number of elements-required either in the transfer element itself or in the machine feeding into and outvof the transfer element.

Having in mind many of the defects of the prior ,art, it is an object of the present invention .to design a transfer and coding drurn which is made of a series of identical transfer discs .so .that in the use of the device each disc will serve to effect the transfers and coding in a single orderaudthat each disc will have therein all the ordinals of both input ,and output.

A further object of the present invention is the .construction of a transfer disc or annular ring that will be very thin, of the order of atenth of an inch in thickness or less, so that a plurality of such discs maybe assembled together to form a cylinder, ordrum, mountable for totation about the common transverse axis of said discs.

Another objectis that of Using Bowden wires in such a discto effect such a coding and transfer.

These objects are achieved and many of thedefects of the prior art are remedied by the arranging of Bowden wires in a disc-like mat so that one end of each wire is in a peripheral inputzone and the other end in another zone, the peripheral output zone, and .so that the ends of the wires in each zone are spaced apart andsequencec in a desired codepattern; and embeddingsuch wires in plastic material to hold them in such arrangement so that a plurality of such discsmaybe assembled in the form of a drum. Such a drum is then assembled and operate with otherdevices so that thedrum is rotated past peripheralinput, output, and clear sites where such functionsare performed in timed sequence with the transfer of data from a punched input tape to, and the punching, or marking, of, an output tape.

-A coding transfer machine embodying-the above outlined is hereinafter described and shownin the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic assembly view with parts thereof in elevation and other parts in oblique showing.

FIGURE-2 is an axial view of one of the discs embodying the principal part of the present invention.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of FIGURE 2 at one of the output stations.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of aportion of FIGUREZ covering three input stations, and portions of adjacent input site mechanisms.

FIGURE 5 is a schematic perspective view showing details of the-input mechanisms at the input site.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of FIGURE 2 at one of the output stations, and portions of adjacent mechanisms at the output site.

FIGURE 7 is a view on the line 7-7 of FIGURE 3. FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 showing a modification of the mechanisms of FIGURE 3.

Figures 2 and 3 FIGURE 2 is an axial, elevational view of one of the discs 11 forming the subject of the present invention, and is taken normal to the side of the disc, from the end of the axis which will be the drum axis when a plurality of such discs are so assembled. This view is the same as if taken from the near end of the disc drum shown in the assembly view of FIGURE 1. The details of the construction of one of the discs are first discussed so that the functioning of the assemblage of FIGURE 1 may be better and more easily understood when it is described.

The disc 11 is divided circumferentialy, and angularly, into two zones, the input, or decimal, zone 12 of and, spaced therefrom, the output, or binary, zone 13 of Each zone is divided into units of 10 and there are thirtysix units in the whole circumference. At the ends of the decimal zone and between each unit thereof there are one or more Bowden wire input ends 14 of the Bowden wire core 15, FIGURE 3, which project a short distance beyond the periphery 16 of the disc. The sheath 17 for each wire ends at or short of the periphery 16 but each wire is free to slide in its sheath. Thus, there are twelve input wire stations which have been designated in series from 1D to @D, inclusive, 0D, YD, and ZD. The D is used as an abbreviation of decimal.

The Bowden wires lead from the input zone 12 to the output zone 13 where each wire terminates at a station between certain of the 10 units. All of the unit interfaces are not used for wire termination at the output zone. A directional arrow has been applied to the figure to indicate rotation in the ascending values of the input zone and this is the direction of rotation which has been chosen for the operation of the machine of FIGURE 1, although the other direction could be used, that against the ascending value of input. From the input zone to the output zone in this direction of rotation, there have been taken nine units. At this end of the output zone the station has been designated ZB. The subsequent stations in this direction are spaced and designated as follows: five units, YB; four units, 1B; one unit, 213; two units, 48; and three units, 8B. This leaves one unit from the end of the output to the beginning of the input zone. The BYhas been used as an abbreviation of binary.

Thus, it will be noted that the input stations have unit spacing and that the spacing betwen the various output stations is difierent for each such spacing. From this, it is seen that the value of an output impulse or punch action may be sensed by its interval. The use of this feature has not been particularly demonstrated in the present embodiment of the use of these discs, other than to so space the output markings on the output tape. The intervals between the input and the output zones were selected to eliminate interference between the input site, output site, and clear site functions of the machine.

Ateach output station, the Bowden wire output-ends 18 project beyond the sheaths 17 but Well inside the disc periphery 1 6. Thesewire ends bear against the head19 of a pin having a stem 20 that is radial of the disc but with the end thereof flush with the disc periphery. A pin spring 22 around each pin stem 2% bears under the head and against the material 23 of the disc to bias the pin inward thereof. The pin, wire ends, and spring are located in .an aperture 24 made near the periphery of and made axialiy of the disc. The stem 20 slides freely or with little friction in the disc material 23. The friction on the wire holds the wire frictionally in any set position. The disc material 23 may be a plastic suitable for molding around these parts, and is in the form of an annular ring with the outer edge being the periphery 16 of the disc. The center of the disc is left open to save weight and to allow the Bowdens to adjust to some extent. These Bowdens may be obtained in very small diameters. Use of those having a diameter of 0.025 seems satisfactory. This enables the disc thickness to be about 0.10". When the discs are assembled to form a drum an annular shim 25 is placed between each two adjacent discs to prevent adjacent pin heads 20 from interfering. Both slots 26 having all sides parallel are provided in the periphery for the reception of bolts 27 which will hold the discs and shims together in drum form. To show the relative angular spacing about the drum of the input, output, and clear sites, radial dot-dash lines in FIGURE 1 and arrows in FIGURE 2, with proper spacing and designation, have been added to the figures, and for the purpose of later explanation the input site has been taken, in FIGURE -2, one unit ahead of the ZD station.

While it is old to transfer from decimal to binary, and the coding here used is old, it may be well to give a tabulation of such so that the location of the various Bowden wires and wire ends may be understood without reference to the drawings. The tabulation is divided into two parts. The two columns in the first part are that of the decimal input stations to the binary outputs. The next two columns, the second part, are that of the binary output stations to the decimal inputs. In the first column of each group, the reading from top to bottom is in the direction of rotation indicated in FIG- URES l and 2.

D B B D 1 1 z z s 2 z 3 2 Y Y a 1 Y 0 4 4 1 s a 4 1 7 5 1 1 5 6 4 1 3 e 2 1 1 7 4 2 7 7 2 2 e 7 1 2 a s s 2 2 9 s 4 7 9 1 4 s 0 Y 4 5 0 z 4 4 Y Y s 9 z z s 8 Figure I This perspective view is a schematic view of a machine using the discs shown in FIGURE 2 and described in connection therewith.

A large number of the discs 11 are assembled side by side with the intervening shims 25 to form a drum 31. This drum has a clamping head 32 .at each end and all these parts are held together by the bolts 27. Loosening of the bolts and the removal of the bolt located in the head slot 33 allows any of the discs to be removed from the drum without removal of the others. A journal shaft 34 is secured to each clamping head and the drum is rotatable with these journals in suitable bearings, not shown. The primary drive to the machine is to one of these journal shafts.

A clear cam 36 is driven directly from the disc drum so that at the clear site the output zone of the drum is contacted by the rise of the clear cam each revolution of the cam and drum. This retracts all output pin stems 20 as they pass the clear site. The low part of the cam does not touch the input wire ends 14. Thus, the input ends protrude to be acted on by input slides in the input assembly 37 as they pass the input site. Those output stems protruding at the output site actuate 4 punches, or printers, in the output assembly 33 when they pass the output site.

The input to the drum is had from a punched record card or tape such as is in standard use. For the present illustration, a tape 41 is used that has along its length spaced apart rows of openings, each row being transverse of the tape length, the openings being equally spaced in a row and aligned with the openings in adjacent rows, and the number of possible openings in a row being equal to or less than the number of discs in the drum. Each row is called an ordinal. Twelve consecutive rows are called a cycle, and in a cycle the aligned openings in adjacent rows form orders. In the present illustration of the use of the invention, it is intended that the data recorded in each order of a cycle require the presence of one or more holes. One only of the holes may be in the YD, ZD, and OD ordinal positions and the rest are in the 1D to 9D, inclusive, ordinal positions. If there are two or more holes in the 1D to 9D, inclusive, ordinal positions, they must be selected so that there is not created error in the output reading. The tape is sensed, or read, so that each order is read into a disc in an order progression along the tape and around the disc; thus, the tape openings in an ordinal row are read into the discs across the face of the drum 31 as each ordinal row of input pins 14, or indicia, passes the input site at each revolution of the drum, the read-in being from ZD, YD, 0D, etc., through to 1D, inclusive. This means that at each revolution of the drum one cycle of the tape is read into the drum.

This requires that during each revolution of the drum the tape be advanced one cycle, and that for ease of transfer of data from the input tape to the drum each ordinal row of the tape cycle align with the tape read-out site as the corresponding drum ordinal indicia row aligns with the drum input site. As the input zone is the addition to this of one 10 unit for spacing means that the input tape needs to travel in synchronism with the drum only during a third of each revolution. Thus, it is desirable that the tape feed be interrupted during 24 units of the drum rotation. The one 10 unit also will serve to space the tape cycles apart, although a greater spacing may be used.

This latter is accomplished by driving the tape from the drum, through .a chain 42 or other positive drive, at a 3:2 ratio, to a single cycle clutch. Thus, one cycle of the clutch will stop the tape during 24 units, two-thirds of a revolution, of drum rotation. It will make consideration of the drive easy if a chain drive sprocket 43 on the drum shaft 34 is considered to have 36 teeth and a chain driven sprocket 44 to have 24 teeth. The driven sprocket drives through a single cycle clutch 46 a 24- tooth drive gear 47 which meshes with a 36-tooth idler gear 48. Thus, for each revolution of the drum the idler gear 48 makes one revolution. The idler gear 48 meshes with and drives a 36-tooth driven gear 51. Secured to the driven gear 51 is a tape drive sprocket 52 which at each revolution will drive the tape three cycles.

The output tape drive may be continuous with the drum drive as there is no need for synchronization as in the input. The output tape 53 is driven from the drum by a sprocket 54 secured to the drum shaft 34 coaxially of the input tape drive sprocket 43, through a chain 56 to a driven sprocket 57 secured coaxially of an output tape drive drum 58 around which is carried the output tape 53. This tape is carried past the output station 38 and across a platen 59 Where it is marked by output punches found in the output station.

Figures 4 and 5 The openings in the input tape are sensed by a row of electrical contact fingers 61 contacting a grounded drum 62. There is one finger for each order. Impulses from each tape sensing finger are carried to the input assembly 37 and to an electromagnet 63, one for each disc 11, FIGURE 5. Each electromagnet through a line 64- operates an input pin setting slide 65 arranged to move axially of the drum to move inwardly the Wire ends 14 of an input station. Since there is a possible magnetic pulse as each ordinal row of pins aligns with the input site, and since it is necessary to withdraw the slides after each impulse to avoid the slide being hit by the neXt ordinal row of pins as the drum rotates, a bail 67 returns the slides from the drum immediately after each possible magnetic pulse. Also, the bail 67 acts to restrain the slides from movement toward the drum until an ordinal row of pins is in alignment with the slides at the input site.

Figure 6 This is a fragmentary section through the plane of a disc at the output site to show the operation of the output assembly mechanisms for operating the output punches which mark the output tape '53. In the output assembly 38 there is located adjacent the periphery 16 of each disc 11 a toothed wheel 71 which is in a position to have one of its teeth contacted and rotated by a protruding output pin stem 25 as the output zone of each such disc rotates past its wheel. Contacting of a-tooth of the wheel 71 by a moving pin 20 steps the wheel around one tooth. The wheel, in moving one tooth, operates a hammer crank 72 to rotate it on its pivot '73 agamst the tension of springs 74, 76. When the hammer crank 72 is passed by a wheel tooth, under urging of the springs, it strikes down on the upper end, the head 77, of a punch 78 to force it downward on the output tape 53 and the platen S9, to mark the output tape 53 through a carbon sheet 80. The punch is returned to its upward position by one of the springs, the punch spring 76. The upward and downward travel of the punch is limited by a stop 79 engaging a lip of the head '77. A suitable stop pawl, not shown, prevents backward movement of the wheel 71.

Figure 8 FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 3 but showing a modification thereof. The numbers in this view have been raised one hundred where they refer to the same or similar parts of FIGURE 3. The ends of the sheaths 117 of the Bowden wires 115 are embedded in a plastic annulus 123 with the output ends 118 of the wires secured to the head 119 of the pin stem 12% as by soldering. This means that when one Wire to an output station is actuated, all the wires to that station are moved. The spring 22 of FIGURE 3 is eliminated as the pin 12 is held retracted by the friction on the wires 115. A short sleeve 121 of plastic material other than the plastic of which the disc is formed may encompass the pin 12!} where it passes through the annulus from the aperture 124, in which the head 119 of the pin is located, to the periphery 116 of the disc.

Miscellaneous and Operation The single cycle clutch 46, which is driven by the driven sprocket 44 and which drives the drive gear 47, is actuated by a clutch electromagnet 81 which is impulsed by a clutch circuit 82 closed by contacts 83 which are closed at each one-third of a revolution of the driven wheel 51 and in time with the completion of the readout of one cycle of input tape read-out. A relay 84 in the circuit 82 allows the completion of an input cycle before the clutch is tripped, and cuts olf the electromagnet after actuation so that the clutch makes only one revolution upon closing of the contacts 83. In viewing FIGURE 1, the electromagnet 81 may be considered as carried by the driven sprocket 44 and the single jaw of the clutch as carried by the drive gear 47. Thus, the driven gear 51 drives the tape in synchronism with the disc drum 31 during one-third of a revolution of the drum. The driven gear 51 then pauses While the drum makes two-thirds of a revolution, and then again turns one-third of a revolution in synchronism with the drum. This continues dur- 6 ing the operation of the device, the contacts 83 being closed at the end of each cycle and opened at the beginning of each cycle by the movement of three ground terminals of the contacts 83, equally spaced angularly about the sprocket 52 or the driven gear '51.

A. cam 86 secured to one or both of the drum heads 32 and extending angularly throughout the input zone 12 is contacted by a cam follower '87, shown only in part, which moves the toothed output wheel 71 away from the drum as the input zone passes the output site. This movement of the wheel 71 from and to a position where it may be contacted and operated by the output pin stems 2%) is indicated by an arrow 88 in FIGURE 6.

In the prior art of data processing machines there have been shown many devices for actuating slides or racks such as those here shown as the input slides 66 and the output punch '78, and such slides and their controls may be here substituted. Generally in devices of this nature, it is better to drive such slides and punches with bails to which the slides or punches are linked for operation by mechanisms responsive to data transmission, and such may be here .used, as those here shown are only for the purpose of illustration.

In the operation of the present machine, the input tape is timed so that the read-out of the first ordinal row of an input tape cycle occurs when the ZD position of the drum discs is at the input site in alignment with the input slides 66 .and in time with the inward movement of the input bail 67. Thus, data in the first ordinal row of the input tape cycle will be read out by the contact fingers 61 and read into the drum. One 10 unit of revolution of the drum, the distance between adjacent input stations of the drum, will cause the tape drive 52 to drive the tape the distance from the first ordinal to the second ordinal. The fingers 61 will again read out the tape, actuate the input electromagnets 63, in accordance with the data of such read-out, to push in the wire ends 14 in alignment with the slides 65 actuated by such electromagnets. This reading out continues until the end of the input tape cycle and the delivery of data to the 1D station, when the contacts 83, operated by the driven wheel 51, are closed. This trips the single cycle clutch 46 so that the drive to the input tape 41 is stopped while the drum makes two-thirds of a revolution, 240. This is the equivalent of the disc of FIGURE 2 moving from the 1D station at the input site 240, 24 units, to a position where the Z1) station is one unit short of the input site. This is the position of the sites with respect to the zones as shown in FIGURE 2. Here the clutch 46 engages to drive the tape drive train again. One unit of rotation of the drum will then align the ZD station with the input site and will have, through the tape drive gear train, advanced the input tape to the first ordinal of the next cycle for a repetition of the above procedure. Also, this advance of the driven gear 51 and tape sprocket 52 after engagement of the clutch will open the contacts 83 which will not be closed again until the driven gear and tape sprocket have moved the remaining eleven ordinal distances of the twelve present in each one-third revolution of such gear and sprocket, and the input tape will have moved the remaining eleven of the twelve ordinals of its cycle.

The location of the clear, input, and output sites has been taken so that there will be no interference between their functioning, that is, an input at an input station will not affect an output station after it has passed the output site; and clearing does not take place after the input station to be cleared has passed the input site.

As each output station, which has been actuated to have a pin 20 protrude beyond the drum periphery, passes the output site, the protruding pin contacts its order toothed wheel 71 to actuate its order punch 78 to mark the output tape 53. The tape moves continuously and so the markings on the tape are a function of the machine output data which, in turn, is a function of the input tape output tape data and the relative form of the input data to the output data is a code determined by the arrangement of the BoWden Wires in each of the discs 11.

The stems 20 of the output pins may be considered to be continuations of the output ends 18 of the Bowden wires.

Having thus described my invention, an embodiment thereof, a machine for the incorporation therein of such embodiment, and the construction and functioning of such embodiment and machine, I claim:

1. A transfer element comprising: a thin annulus mounted for rotation about its center, said annulus being radially divided into an input zone and an output zone, said input and output zones in turn being radially divided into a plurality of input stations and a plurality of output stations, respectively, there being a greater number of input stations than output stations; a plurality of Bowdens each having a core and a sheath, one end of each of said Bowdens being an input end and the other end being an output end, each of the input ends being embedded medially of the thickness and along a radius of said annulus at an input station thereof and each of the output ends being similarly embedded in said annulus at an output station thereof, there being at least two Bowdens at each output station, each of said Bowdens at a respective output station having its input end located at a diiferent input station; and a plurality of radially slideable pins, one of said pins encased in said annulus at each of said output stations and having its outward end flush with 8 the outer periphery of said annulus, the pin at each respective output station bearing, at its inner end, against the cores at said output ends of all Bowdens embedded at the respective output station whereby said pin is caused to project outwardly from the outer periphery of said annulus in response to an actuating movement of one of said associated Bowden cores.

2. A transfer element according to claim 1 and additionally comprising, in combination, reset means rotatable in synchronization with but separate from said rotatable annulus, said reset means operable to depress said pins flush with said outer periphery of said annulus during each revolution of said annulus.

References fitted in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,843,986 Peirce Feb. 9, 1932 1,987,322 Campbell Jan. 8, 1935 2,076,703 Campbell Apr. 13, 1937 2,108,681 Lasker Feb. 15, 1938 2,172,067 Mills Sept. 5, 1939 2,355,462 Nilsson Aug. 8, 1944 2,550,079 Mixer Apr. 24, 1951 2,727,091 Zenner Dec. 13, 1955 2,755,023 Cooper et al July 17, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 690,171 Great Britain Apr. 15, 1953 

